40th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering

How do creeks function for us? For the things we care about? By focusing on water, plants, soils, and landforms, we’ve learned that some plants grow tremendous root systems that withstand floods, slow water to build floodplains, and protect soil to create a sponge. Ranchers Agee Smith and Steve Boies, Nevada Range Program Lead Kathryn Dyer, and riparian Extension Specialist Sherman Swanson will use photos and videos to tell firsthand stories showing how water-loving plants grow in response to the movement of wildlife and livestock. While each ranch is unique, they all demonstrate the benefit of animal movement in supporting healthy creek ecosystems and creating abundance. 

Hosted by Dave Voth

Sponsored by Northeastern Nevada Stewardship Group

Since about 2017, downtown Reno, Nevada, has been punctuated with the small, supersonic cracks of homemade bullwhips. Join radiomaker Fil Corbitt for a live audio podcast presentation digging into this phenomenon, and what happened when the city moved to ban whips in downtown Reno. Originally aired on Fil’s podcast The Wind, and nationally on Snap Judgement, “Whip Law” dives into ideas of craft, community, and homelessness through a western noir search for Reno's master whip maker.

In this romp based on his book On the Trail of the Jackalope, Great Basin Desert writer Michael Branch (author of Raising Wild, Rants from the Hill, and How to Cuss in Western) takes us on an entertaining and enlightening road trip to the heart of an American legend. Mike’s story spans from the horned rabbit’s origins in rural Wyoming through the many forms of jackalope art that keep this hybrid creature alive in western American folk culture. The talk also reveals that actual horned rabbits exist in nature, and explains their connection to the iconic mythological jackalope of folklore.

Rancher-to-Rancher team member Kent Reeves, along with Buffalo Kin, Amy Hale, Lara Manzanares, Deanna Dickinson McCall, Henry Real Bird, Brigid & Johnny Reedy, and Sean Sexton, bring you an entertaining and interactive session about regenerative rangeland management using peer-to-peer learning, holistic thinking, simple demonstrations, and audience participation. Between poetry and music from people who steward the land, we’ll learn more about “how to see” soil health and healthy ecosystem processes (water cycle, carbon cycle, energy flow, biodiversity). And, we’ll cover practical ideas to address drought, productivity, range and pasture regeneration, fire, water quality and quantity, and profitability. All while having some fun!